Chapter 30: The Demonic Beast Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven Attack Simultaneously
Seven thousand years ago, when a Star Hunter from beyond the firmament pierced the gods' foothold in the mortal realm, the Age of Gods began to ebb. Even now, though the deities still loomed high above in the celestial domain, they could no longer descend in their Main body.
Yet decline did not mean extinction. The Age of Gods was still here, only thinner, like a flame reduced to embers but not yet snuffed out.
Ishtar's possession was one path. Other gods, even without suitable vessels, even if they could only momentarily inhabit a body like Aruru did, still had ways to reach down with their long fingers. The eyes they left behind before were one method.
Unleashing their strongest divine beast and strongest demonic beast upon humanity was another.
"A pack of guttersnipes who only dare to strike from behind curtains," Gilgamesh said with a cold sneer after hearing Ishtar's tip off. "If you have the courage, come down and face this King one on one."
Ishtar stared at him.
If they could come down, they would have already crushed you. But she swallowed that thought.
"I told you, I came to warn you. Why are you holding me captive?"
Her voice sharpened with grievance as she looked from the two in front of her to the one most responsible.
Rowe.
Ishtar shifted in place and only made the chains cinched around her body clink.
She was bound.
Enkidu had wrapped her tight in the Chains of Heaven so thoroughly that not even a strip of skin showed. Only her head was exposed, black hair mussed, expression twisted in humiliation. She had come to declare war, or to warn them, depending on whose pride you asked.
Instead, she had been dragged into the house like a sack of grain.
If she were her Main body, Enkidu, who still could not draw out the Chains' full authority, would never have been able to restrain her. But this was only a possessed fragment.
So she could do nothing but get hauled along.
Like dragging a dead pig.
Ah, no good deed goes unpunished.
"Enkidu, let her go," Rowe said calmly. "She means no harm."
Then, without missing a beat, he added, "You agree, don't you, Ishtar Rin?"
Ishtar's eyes widened.
Gilgamesh leaned forward, scarlet gaze scraping her from head to toe, then cracked into a grin.
"So the humanity of your vessel is the one calling the shots. No wonder you look so… manageable."
He laughed, sharp and delighted.
"Hmph hahahaha. Is this what a goddess becomes? Pathetic. Truly worth a King's amusement."
Ishtar's face flushed a violent red. She could not even find a retort.
"Still," Gilgamesh said, pausing, almost thoughtful. "You are far more pleasing to look at like this than that arrogant, nauseating goddess you used to be."
Enkidu obediently withdrew the Chains of Heaven.
Ishtar crumpled to the floor. The hem of her crimson coat spread out beneath her like a fallen banner, calves tucked awkwardly as she tried to regain dignity.
She drew a breath, lifted her crimson eyes, and met Enkidu's emerald ones.
"There's a disagreeable scent on you," Enkidu said with a faint smile.
Ishtar shivered. Somehow that calmness was scarier than Gilgamesh's bark.
"But there is another scent mixed in. One that is not so disagreeable." Enkidu looked away as if stating a simple fact. "If that scent stays on top, I will not lay a hand on you."
The words were meant as reassurance. They landed like a threat anyway.
Rowe cut through the mood before Ishtar's spine could fully freeze.
"Enough. Explain it clearly, Mistress of Heaven. What exactly do you mean?"
"Literally," Ishtar snapped back, forcing herself upright. She glanced at the three of them, then jerked her head away like she'd remembered her own pride.
"No, wait. I came to declare war. Why should I tell you anything?"
Her glare went straight to Rowe.
She had even changed into a coat closer to Ereshkigal's style, and he had still looked unimpressed, then let her get tied up. It was infuriating.
Clang, clang, clang.
Gold coins rained onto the floor.
Rowe retracted his hand from the Gate of Babylon, the scatter of treasure shining bright as day.
"Now will you talk?"
If he remembered right, Tohsaka Rin's body was a notorious money addict. Under that influence, Ishtar had developed a love for wealth that was hard to hide.
Sure enough, her eyes lit up. Her hands scooped coins to her chest before she could stop herself.
Only after she saw Rowe's knowing look did her cheeks redden again.
"Ahem. Don't misunderstand. This goddess is not tempted by your cheap gold."
She straightened her back, voice wavering under the weight of her own lie.
"This is mercy. I simply refuse to let you die without understanding why."
Then she finally spoke plainly.
"You have committed acts that defied the gods. You know that, don't you?"
"The gods, at the suggestion of my Main body, will punish you. No, they will punish all of Uruk."
"So they are sending the strongest divine beast and the strongest demonic beast to strike at once."
"Correct," Ishtar said, blinking at Rowe's tone. He looked… almost eager. "How did you guess so quickly?"
How could he not be eager?
In the Epic of Gilgamesh, both Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven were calamities so dreadful that Gilgamesh and Enkidu together only survived by scraping through with everything they had.
Humbaba especially. Before Aruru brought Enkidu to the surface, the clay weapon had lived near the Cedar Forest for a time. Many of Enkidu's primal combat instincts came from that monstrous warden.
Now, because of Rowe's butterfly effect, they were coming together.
For anyone else, it was a disaster.
For Rowe, it was a festival.
A crisis like this. Two calamities converging. Even if you fought with everything you had, survival would be slim.
What else was that, if not the perfect doorway to death?
Rowe swallowed the thrill before it could leak onto his face. He inhaled, forced his eyes to darken, and spoke as if burdened by dread.
"So the gods are fixed on erasing us."
No matter what he wanted, he could not deny the reality. The simultaneous descent of Humbaba and Gugalanna meant catastrophe for the Mesopotamian plain. They were disasters given flesh. Even among the gods, few could rival them in pure destructive authority.
"And Anu's ruling is this," Ishtar continued, finally playing the part of double agent in full. "Only two among the Chains of Heaven, the wedge of heaven, and the Key of Heaven may remain."
The previous clash had taught the gods a lesson. When the three were united, the boundary between Heaven, Earth, and Man could be shaken. The gods themselves could be threatened.
So they wanted to cut the trio down.
"Then I will go meet the gods," Rowe began.
Rather than debating, he wanted to walk into that storm and die. He wanted their epic to be written cleanly, with himself as the tragic verse that preserved Gilgamesh and Enkidu's names.
He wanted to be sung about as the one who stood between calamity and king.
He wanted to fall.
But Gilgamesh cut him off before the sentence could breathe.
"A rabble of cowards. They dare decide what remains in this King's courtyard?"
He waved his hand like swatting flies.
"Go back and tell them to wash their necks and wait. This King will answer them personally."
He leaned forward, eyes burning.
"We three will drag the gods down into the mud sooner or later."
Rowe felt a tug of helplessness.
Can you let me finish, you golden husky?
But then he saw Ishtar's stunned expression, and Enkidu's gaze behind him, quiet yet unwavering.
He froze, then let out a breath and smiled.
Never mind.
This was fine.
If war erupted like this, finding a way to die would not be difficult at all.
Let the heavens roar.
Let the earth crack.
Let the beasts come.
Rowe lifted his eyes, staring past Ishtar, past the walls of Uruk, into the sky where gods watched and plotted.
"Those who wish to kill me, come."
The words rang through the house, sharp and fearless. They pierced upward, like a spear meant for the stars.
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